Before Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor, he pursued Zhu Sheng's strategy of "building a high wall, accumulating grain and slowly proclaiming himself emperor". Building a high wall means strengthening military preparations and consolidating the rear; Wide grain accumulation refers to developing economic production, storing grain and enhancing economic strength; To be king slowly means not to be king too early, lest you make too many enemies. These three suggestions are of great strategic vision and are the guiding ideology of Zhu Yuanzhang's early development.
After Zhu Yuanzhang was stationed in Hezhou for several months, food supply became a problem. Opposite Hezhou are Taiping (now Dangtu, Anhui) and Wuhu, which are close to the south bank of the Yangtze River. They are rich in rice, but there are no boats, so they can only sigh at Wangjiang. At this time, it happened that the Chaohu water army of the two Red Scarf Army came to join the party, and Zhu Yuanzhang personally handled the merger. In July, more than a thousand warships of Chaohu Water Army broke through the blockade of Yuan Army and arrived in Hezhou. Zhu Yuanzhang's infantry troops boarded the ship of Chaohu Water Army and crossed the Yangtze River from Hezhou to the east. On the other side of the quarry, Chang Yuchun took the lead, led the army to kill, conquered the quarry and gained a lot of food. Soldiers want to take food and trophies home and enjoy them slowly. Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang decisively ordered people to cut off the ship's cable, let the ship go down the river and cut off the retreat. When the soldiers saw no way back, they rallied and conquered Taiping under the guidance of Zhu Yuanzhang. Entering Taiping, Zhu Yuanzhang reiterated military discipline and prohibited looting. Some soldiers violated the ban and were immediately executed. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang's army was supported by the local people. Zhu Yuanzhang then set up the Taiping Marshal House and Xingguo Wing, calling himself Marshal, and appointed Li Shanchang as Shuaifu. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang began to stabilize the base areas.
In the 16th year of Zheng Zhi (A.D. 1356), in March, Zhang Shicheng launched an attack in the Yangtze River Delta to attack the Yuan Army in the south of the Yangtze River. Taking this opportunity, Zhu Yuanzhang personally commanded the amphibious army and attacked Qing Ji (now Nanjing, Jiangsu) for the third time. On the third day, the military camp outside Chen Zhaoxian was breached, and his 36,000 people defected to Zhu Yuanzhang. But Zhu Yuanzhang saw that he had doubts about surrender and his morale was uncertain. So Zhu Yuanzhang chose 500 warriors from the army to be Qinbing, guarding them at night, leaving Feng alone.
The next day, the army was very moved when they learned about it, and all doubts vanished. They are willing to follow Zhu Yuanzhang in farmland. As a result, the war went very smoothly. In less than ten days, Zhu Yuanzhang captured the celebration banquet.
After Zhu Yuanzhang entered the city, he ordered to appease the people and change the celebration to Yingtianfu. After Wang Xiaoming and Han Liner were reported, Zhu Yuanzhang was promoted to the Privy Council, and was soon promoted to the provincial chapter in Jiangnan and other places. Zhu Yuanzhang set up the Grand Marshal's Office of Star Health Instrument in Yingtian, with Liao as the commander in chief and Li Shanchang as the left and right doctors.
At this time, although Zhu Yuanzhang had an army of 100,000 troops, his momentum was much larger than in the past, but his territory was still small and he was surrounded by enemies. Yuan Army is in the east and south, Zhang Shicheng is in the southeast and Xu Shouhui is in the west. Although Zhang and Xu are both anti-yuan armed forces, they are hostile to both. However, the main forces of the Red Scarf Army headed by Wang Xiaoming and Liu Futong in the north greatly contained the Yuan Army, and the strength of Zhang Shicheng and Xu Shouhui was not enough to annex Zhu Yuanzhang. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang has no enemies that he can't cope with for the time being, and faces good development opportunities.
At present, Zhu Yuanzhang's primary task is to consolidate the base area centered on Yingtian. So soon after the occupation, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately sent Xu Da to capture Zhenjiang. Before the start of the battle, Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to strictly observe the military discipline, deliberately arrested Xu Da on charges of conniving at foot soldiers, ready to accept the punishment of military law. At this point, Li Shanchang came out to intercede, and people didn't know it was a plan, so they interceded together. So Zhu Yuanzhang took the lead and said, "For everyone's sake, Xu's death penalty will be temporarily exempted, but only after Xu captured Zhenjiang can Xu's crime be completely forgiven, without burning or robbing." . People think that they are still so strict with the Lord, so they all strictly abide by military discipline, and Zhenjiang was quickly captured. By the winter of 1357, Zhu Yuanzhang had captured Jintan, Danyang, Jiangyin, Changzhou, Changshu, Yangzhou and other places within one year, and controlled the strategic strongholds around Yingtian. By 1359, according to the current map, Zhu Yuanzhang had occupied Nanjing, Jiangsu, west of Taihu Lake, south of the junction of Jiangsu, Anhui and Zhejiang, and reached a rectangular area in eastern Zhejiang. Compared with the occupation four years ago, the situation has greatly improved.
After Zhu Yuanzhang completed the deployment of "building a high wall", he began to implement "wide grain accumulation". The early solution to military commissariat mainly depended on compulsory requisition, that is, requisition of "village commissariat". But in the long run, the army will become a purely destructive force and lose people's hearts. In order to solve the food problem, Zhu Yuanzhang, in addition to mobilizing the people for production, decided to implement the reclamation law and vigorously carry out army reclamation, appointed Marshal Kang Maocai as the water conservancy ambassador, responsible for building water conservancy projects, and appointed generals to reclaim farmland in various places. In the past few years, villages have been built all over the country, and the national treasury is full and the rations are sufficient. 1360, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that "village grain" would no longer be levied to reduce the burden on farmers. In order to accumulate grain, Zhu Yuanzhang banned alcohol, but Hu Sanshe, the son of his general Hu Dahai, broke the law with others and made profits by making wine privately. After Zhu Yuanzhang knew it, he ordered Hu Sanshe to be killed. Hu Dahai was advised to attack Shaoxing at this time, hoping that Zhu Yuanzhang could let Hu Sanshe go for Hu Dahai's sake. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and resolutely punished, so he personally killed Hu Sanshe.
While winning the hearts and minds of the people, Zhu Yuanzhang constantly recruited talents, especially the intellectuals of the landlord class. Zhu Yuanzhang also specially built the Lixian Pavilion in Yingtian to receive them. These people played an important role in the process of Zhu Yuanzhang's unification, such as Li Shanchang and Zhu Sheng. Zhu Yuanzhang has great respect for Confucian scholars. 1358, he summoned Tang Jieshi, a Confucian scholar, and asked Gaudi, Emperor Guangwu, Emperor Taizong, Song Taizu and Yuan Shizu how to pacify the world, which also showed that Zhu Yuanzhang was determined to create a new feudal dynasty.
Cut Chen Pingzhang
Zhu Yuanzhang established a base area centered on Yingtian, with Chen Youliang in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Zhang Shicheng in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Fang Guozhen in the southeast and Chen Youding in the south. Fang Guozhen and Chen Youding's goal is to protect the territory, while Zhang Shicheng has no ambition for the first mouse in the Yuan Dynasty. Chen Youliang is the strongest, and it is the most dangerous enemy that Zhu Yuanzhang encountered when he occupied Yingtian.
Chen Youliang was a subordinate of general Ni Wenjun of Xu Shouhui. Later, he killed Ni Wenjun. In 1360, he took Xu Shouhui hostage and captured Taiping and Quarrying. So Chen Youliang thought that Heaven was at his fingertips, so he killed Xu Shouhui and proclaimed himself emperor in quarrying, which changed the country's sense of justice.
Then Chen Youliang attacked Zhang Shicheng from east to west and divided Zhu Yuanzhang's territory equally. It was a big earthquake. Zhu Yuanzhang had to convene all the people to discuss countermeasures, and there were different opinions at one time. Only Liu Ji was silent, and Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Liu Ji had a proposition and asked his advice. Liu Ji believes that the most dangerous enemy at present is Chen Youliang, and we must concentrate on destroying him. Although Chen Youliang is powerful, it is not difficult to defeat him, because he killed the king and left home on his own, and the people were exhausted. As long as he waits for them to go deep and then ambush him, it is not difficult to win.
Zhu Yuanzhang agreed with Liu Ji's judgment, so he designed to lure the enemy deeper and make an iron ride. Kang Maocai and Chen Youliang, the ministry of Zhu Yuanzhang, are old friends, so Kang Maocai wrote a letter, sent someone to Chen Youliang camp, invited Chen to attack Yingtian, and offered to work in Jiangdong Bridge.
On the morning of June 23rd, Chen Youliang led the main force of the fleet to the Jiangdong Bridge on the outskirts of Yingtian, only to find that the bridge was a stone bridge instead of a wooden one, and only then did he know that he had been cheated. But it's too late. Zhu Yuanzhang ambushed and attacked, and Chen Youliang was defeated. Zhu Yuanzhang collected Taiping and occupied Xinzhou and Anqing. Chen Youliang defeated Jiujiang and captured Anqing in August of the following year, so Zhu Yuanzhang led an army to Jiangzhou, Chen Youliang's lair, Chen Youliang fled to Wuchang, and Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Jiangxi and southeastern Hubei.
At this time, the Central Plains Red Scarf Army split, weakened. In February of the 23rd year, Zhang Shicheng took advantage of people's crisis and sent Lu Zhen to attack Anfeng. Liu Futong turned to Zhu Yuanzhang for help. When Zhu Yuanzhang led the army to Anfeng, Liu Futong had been killed by Lv Zhen. Zhu Yuanzhang only rescued Wang Xiaoming Han Liner and arranged for him to live in Chuzhou.
When Zhu Yuanzhang led the main force to rescue Wang Xiaoming, Chen Youliang thought it was time to counterattack, so he led his troops to attack Hongdu (now Nanchang, Jiangxi).
Zhu Wenzheng, the nephew of Zhu Yuanzhang, led the soldiers to hold on for 85 days. In July of the 23rd year of Zheng Zheng (AD 1363), Zhu Yuanzhang led 200,000 troops to Hongdu. When Chen Youliang learned of this, he withdrew from the besieged army and confronted Zhu Yuanzhang. The two sides fought a decisive battle in Poyang Lake.
The Poyang Lake water war lasted for 36 days from August 29th to1October 3rd. Zhu Yuanzhang's army gave full play to the flexibility of the ship, attacked Chen Jun, and finally won. Chen Youliang was shot dead by random arrows.
1364 On New Year's Day, Zhu Yuanzhang called Wu Wang and built a hundred lawsuits. He still issued orders in the name of "imperial edict and Wu Wang decree". Because Zhang Shicheng established himself as the King of Wu in 1363, Zhang Shicheng was called Wu Dong and Zhu Yuanzhang was called Xiwu in history.
In March of twenty-four years, Zhu Yuanzhang went to Wuchang to inspect the city again, and David Li Chen finally surrendered from the city. After the annexation of Chen Youliang, Zhu Yuanzhang's next goal was Zhang Shicheng.
Zhang Shicheng, a native of Taizhou (now Cao Yan Town, Dafeng City, Jiangsu Province), sold smuggled salt in his early years. A salt uprising was launched at the end of Yuan Dynasty. 1354, Gaoyou became the king, and the founding name was Zhou and Jianyuantian. 1356, Pingjiang (now Suzhou) was its capital. After Zhu Yuanzhang destroyed Chen Youliang and his son, he attacked Zhang Shicheng in October of the 25th year of Zheng Zheng, captured Tongzhou, Xinghua, Yancheng, Taizhou, Gaoyou, Huai 'an, Xuzhou, Suzhou, Anfeng and other counties in one fell swoop, and drove Dongwu forces out of Jiangbei area.
In May of the 26th year, Zhu Yuanzhang published a campaign against Zhang Shicheng. Zhang Shicheng's eight major crimes were listed in a battle. Except for the fourth and eighth items related to the Western Wu Dynasty, all the others accused Zhang Shicheng of betraying the Yuan Dynasty. If you don't look at the beginning and end, it is easy to mistake it for a punitive order of the Yuan Dynasty. This shows that Zhu Yuanzhang has regarded himself as a king who obeys his destiny and is ready to inherit the orthodoxy of the dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang's army attacked quickly. In November 26, Hangzhou and Huzhou surrendered one after another, and Pingjiang became an isolated city. So Zhu Yuanzhang surrounded Pingjiang heavily and launched the Pingjiang Campaign.
At the same time of siege, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Liao Yongzhong to Chuzhou to meet Wang Xiaoming, and sent Han Liner to Yingtianlai, but when crossing the river in Guazhou, he quietly chiseled the bottom of the boat and Wang Xiaoming sank to the bottom of the river. Then, Zhu Yuanzhang announced that he would no longer use the year of Dragon and Phoenix, calling 1367 the first year of Wu. At the beginning of the Battle of Pingjiang, Zhu Yuanzhang built a wall around the city and a three-story wooden tower, which was higher than the city wall. He shot at the city with crossbows and ware, and set up Xiangyang guns to bombard it day and night. There was a panic in the city, and Zhang Shicheng's several breakthroughs ended in failure. Zhang Shicheng is willful, greedy for enjoyment, and indulges his subordinates very much. On the last day of the siege at Pingkiang, Zhang Shicheng's younger brother Zhang Shixin bid in Chengtou, still enjoying himself. He sat in a silver chair and drank, and the waiter handed him peaches. As a result, before the peach reached his mouth, his head was smashed with a gunshot. Zhu Yuanzhang sent people to surrender many times, but Zhang Shicheng refused. Zhang Shicheng stuck to Pingjiang, and after the food was exhausted, he ate rats and hay. When the arrows are used up, the roof tiles are used as bombs. Until the eighth day of September in the twenty-seventh year (AD 1367), Zhu Yuanzhang led an army into Pingjiang, while Zhang Shicheng launched street fighting resistance. Finally, Zhang Shicheng was captured and sent to Yingtian. Zhu Yuanzhang asked questions but he ignored them. Li Shanchang asked him, but he swore. Helpless, Zhu Yuanzhang had to order the guards to kill Zhang Shicheng with disorderly sticks. At that time, Zhang Shicheng was 47 years old, and Soochow perished.
Unification of Ming dynasty
After Zhu Yuanzhang destroyed Zhang Shicheng in Wu Dong, he generally occupied today's Hubei, Hunan, eastern Henan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which are the richest and most densely populated areas in China. Therefore, the time is ripe for a large-scale war.
At that time, the situation in the south was that Fang Guozhen occupied eastern Zhejiang, Chen Youding controlled Sichuan according to Fujian and Ming Yu Zhen, and Guangdong and Guangxi were still under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty. At the end of the Battle of Pingjiang, Zhu Yuanzhang sent a politician to attack Zu, then ordered Tanghe to attack from Ningbo, and defected in December of the 27th year (AD 1367). At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Ji discussed the northern expedition plan in detail. At this time, Chang Yuchun proposed: Take the capital directly, wipe out the exhausted soldiers of the Yuan Dynasty with its elite soldiers, and after occupying the capital, divide the troops and attack, and you will be finished. To this end, Zhu Yuanzhang disagreed. He thought that most of them were the capital cities operated by the Yuan Dynasty for hundreds of years, with strong fortifications. It is too dangerous to attack alone. Take Shandong first, then Henan, attack Tongguan, gain three military points in the east, west and south, and then capture most of it, which will surely succeed. You will agree with this.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang took Xu Da as the general to command the whole army; Chang Yuchun was the deputy general, and the other two generals, Sheng Feng, You Cheng, Xue Xian and Fu Youde, each led an army and went all out to the Northern Expedition.
Zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly affirmed the military discipline and warned the soldiers who went to war that the Northern Expedition was not to attack the city, but to overthrow the tyranny of the Mongolian Yuan and relieve the people's suffering. Subsequently, the "Northern Officials and People's Anti-Talk" drafted by Song Lian was released, which put forward the slogan of "expelling Land Rover, restoring China, establishing laws and relieving the people", which has a strong appeal to the majority of Han people in the Central Plains; A movement also said that if Mongolians and Semu people want to be subjects of the new dynasty, they should be treated the same as the people of the Central Plains.
The Northern Expeditionary Army won successively and quickly captured the counties in Shandong. In the 28th year of Zheng Zhi (AD 1368), he occupied Kaifeng, pacified Henan and conquered Tongguan. In August, after conquering the capital of the Yuan Dynasty (now Beijing), Yuan Shundi saw that the isolated city was difficult to keep, hurriedly abandoned the city, fled to Mobei with his empresses and princes, and drove Meng Yuan, who had ruled the Central Plains for 99 years, out of the Central Plains. As Song Zhicheng's Prime Minister Wen Tianxiang said, Hu Yuncai is a hundred years old.
In the case of continuous victory in the Southern Expedition and Northern Expedition, in the 28th year of Zheng Zheng (AD 1368), in the first month, 40-year-old Zhu Yuanzhang worshipped the Emperor of Heaven and ascended the throne in the southern suburb of Yingtian. The founding name was Daming, and Yingtian was renamed Hongwu. After 99 years of hard work, the Han people finally regained power and returned to their masters.
After sixteen years of crusade, Zhu Yuanzhang finally realized his dream of "expelling Land Rover and restoring China", and became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty from a shepherd boy and a young monk playing flute and carrying cattle.
137 1 year, Ming troops entered Sichuan, Xia rulers rose and fell, and Sichuan was pacified. 138 1 year, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Fu Youde, Mu Ying and Aquamarine to attack Yunnan and Dali the following year, thus completing the unification of the south. 1387, Sheng Feng, Fu Youde and Aquamarine were ordered to attack Naha, the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty in Liaodong. Naha had no choice but to surrender, and Liaodong was pacified. So far, except Mobei grassland and Xinjiang, the whole country has basically recovered.